Looking at the busy street of the Brightmoon mountain city. Dai yaun was gobsmacked by its enormity and the similarly different cultural dressing and way people here carry themselves doing the things they do.
Mehn!!! if feels like am from some uncivilized place.
Wang LinLin nodded, with a pride in her expression. "They say Brightmoon was founded over a thousand years ago, during the Age of Scattered Empires. It was started as a mining outpost, searching for the rare 'Moonstone Veins' – crystals believed to store lunar essence. But its true value soon became clear: its strategic position, guarding the Dragon's Jaw Pass through the Sky-Splitter Mountains, made it invaluable for trade and defense."
He could see it now. The city walls, formidable and ancient, weren't just a perimeter; they were integrated into the mountain itself.
"For centuries," LinLin continued, her voice softening, "it's been a hub for mountain folk, traders from the lowlands, and even some reclusive scholars who prize the clear mountain air and the Temple's ancient knowledge. We don't have grand rivers or vast plains, but we have resilience, skill, and the blessings of the bright-moon."
As they descended the final stretch of the path, the city's roar grew louder. The main gate, a giant archway carved with depictions of celestial bodies and mythical beasts, stands before them. Guards, clad in sturdy chain-mail and bearing long spears, stood before the city's gate, their gazes sharp but not hostile.
The guard nodded at the two of them after scrutinizing dai yaun for a while, recognizing LinLin. "Welcome home, Lin. And you, traveler. Watch your step, and try not to cause trouble."
"Understood," Dai Yuan said, giving a respectful nod.
Once inside, the city enveloped them in it's entirety. The streets were cobbled, sloping gently upwards, and buildings of dark stone, often with wooden balconies adorned with intricate carvings, rose three or four stories high, their windows glowing with the warm light of oil lamps. People bustled past – merchants in fine robes, rough-hewn mountain trappers, nimble porters carrying impossibly large loads, and families going about their daily lives.
Dai yaun looked shocked at the changes happening. As more and more people flow into the street, increasing the crowd's density, people began noticing dai yaun enormous size, which cuts a straight contrast with the height of other people in the straight, he look like two average people attached together.
"wow!! who is the giant"
"damn… is this some frankestain monster in human body"
"wow…. you are so guge…."
The street suddenly began bubbling with noise, as more and more people crowd alongside him taking in awe at his height and giant like physique. Dai yaun now clocking 18 stood at about the height of two hundred centimeters, high. Standing heads above even an average grown up man.
"LinLin…" dai yaun suddenly called covering ass and pelvis as people began touching him, some of them touching him where they aren't supposed to.
"can you please walk fast" calling out to the LinLin, who now has a smug on her face, dai yaun looked frightened at the quire way the people were touching and feeling his body, like some strange species.
Human height in the world, rarely goes above 190 centimeter and as people cultivate, there body size and shape alternate to become more fit and perfect, but here is someone standing head taller than the maximum size ever known to them, and with his obviously looking youthful face, dai yaun feels like some child born out of the combination of two giant bears, if not for his human figure. His burly and giant body would have portrait him as one.
"exuse me…exuse me… hey leave the way" stifling her laughter, Wang LinLin pushed her way through the crowded group of people, as the people parted way for them to pass, while some of them bow in greeting at the sight of her.
"The marketplace isn't far," Wang LinLin chirped, leading the way with a practiced ease, from the way she navigate through h crowd without looking at where she is heading to, Dai Yaun raised and eyebrow at fluid her movement is amidst the crow of people.
"It's near the lower tiers. My uncle's shop, 'Mountain's Bounty,' is one of the biggest." she said here eyes beaming with stars and pride.
They navigated a maze of winding alleyways. Dai Yuan found himself constantly looking up, marveling at the sheer ingenuity of the city's construction. The walk seems to be forever as they keep walking and walking, displaying how vast and large the city is.
Finally, they emerged into a vast, bustling square, the very heart of Brightmoon's commerce area the Brightmoon square.
It was a gigantic and crowded view of sights and sounds, shops of different sides were built along the branching and zig-zag market road, alongside stone stalls overflowing with goods. Merchants and traders hawked their wares with load and fervent voices, bargaining and competing with the sound of livestock, the noise raise to it peak, when they both step into the market square.
The clanging of blacksmiths' hammers, and the exotic sounds of music from brothel and inn flow out of taverns and into the bustling place. Aromas of freshly baked bread, the sweetness of dried fruits, and the earthy scent of exotic herbs.
Despite the chaotic and crowded place, Wang LinLin, however along the winding and branching part, crossing and branching into different road one after the other, her eyes seems to be scanning for a familiar sign.
"Ah, there it is!"
She pointed to a particularly large, well-maintained stone building nestled between a fragrant spice stall and a noisy metal-smith. Above its sturdy wooden door hung a carved sign depicting a overflowing horn of what look like a bull's, nestled against a mountain silhouette.
'Mountain's Bounty,' painted in bold stood out.
As dai yaun step into the shop, the loud noise, suddenly died down to audible volume, as if they had stepped into an entirely different dimension.
Inside, the shop was a treasure trove. Shelves lined the walls, filled with dried herbs, sacks of grain, jars of preserved fruits, and bundles of cured hides.
From the rafters hung strings of dried mushrooms, coils of rope, and even a few pelts of smaller forest creatures. Behind a sturdy wooden counter,a bald man with a kind face and shrewd eyes was weighing out a bag of dried berries for an old lady.
"Uncle Wang!" Wang LinLin called out, her voice bright.
The man looked up,flashing a wide grin showing his missing incisors, as his face break into a wide smile.
"little LinLin, my dear! You're back! And safe, thank the heavens!" He hurried around the counter, pulling her into a warm hug.
"It's been too long. And who is this strapping young man?" His gaze, though friendly, held a sharp, appraising quality as it fell on Dai Yuan huge figure with his bulging bag.
"ohh! this is Dai Yuan!"
"Dai Yaun, meet my uncle, Uncle Wang"
"Good day sir" Dai yaun greeted, as mr wang nodded.
"Uncle, we meet outside the Blackscale jungle, and he was generous enough to let me travel with him out of the Northwood" Wang LinLin explained
"ohh, he also got some beast materials he needs to sell."
"Ah, the the Blackscale jungle, that a dangerous place to be for someone so early in the morning," Mr. Wang said, his eyes raised in bewilderment.
"Well, let's see what you've brought, young man. Beast materials from that region always deals fairly." taking of his mind from the wondering thought, Mr. Wang asked his gaze now on the hide bag on Dai Yaun's shoulder .
Mr. Wang stepped out of the counter, as he led them to a clear space at the back of his shop.
Dai Yuan carefully opened the hide, inside an Iron-Scaled Boar's hide, it obsidian plates still impressive, even in death.
He also produced two formidable tusks shining with sharp light as they came out of the bag, and finally a small pouch containing a boar's eyes and glands, which valuable for certain alchemy concoctions.
These are materials he had scavenged from the monster he had meet on the way out of the Blackscale jungle, after clashing with the earlier boar. On his way out dai yaun wondered if he had pocked a boar's nest.
Mr. Wang knelt beside the materials on the floor, running a practiced hand over the hide, examining the depth of the scales, the integrity of the leather beneath. He inspected the tusks, weighing them, checking for cracks. His movements were precise, his silence with deep concentration.
A mature Iron-Scaled Boar, taken cleanly. The hide is mostly intact, a few scratches, but nothing that won't clean up. Tusks are solid, and the glands… well, they will fetch a good price when sold among the right crowd.
" He calculated for a moment, his fingers silently counting. "For the hide, tusks, and glands, I can offer you... a hundred teals of silver."
"Agreed," Dai Yaun said, giving a slight nod unaware of the market price, he did not bother to make a bargain.
Mr. Wang smiled, then turned behind his counter. He counted out the silver, the coins clinking musically, before handing them to Dai Yuan.
"Good doing business with you, young man. If you have more materials, or need anything while in Brightmoon, you know where to find us."